This text provides a systematic analysis of the convergence of the higher education sector and technology-based industry as the fulcrum of knowledge-driven economic growth. The authors describe this convergence as a paradigm shift at the heart of which is knowledge as the new form of equity. This, they argue, is the genesis of the emerging 21st-century economy. This study provides a framework for science and technology policy and the national knowledge-base. It examines issues concerning intellectual property and technology transfer in detail, and also provides a critique of the financing of innovation by EU credit institutions. The central focus of the book is on the role of universities in the generation, transfer and commercialization of the knowledge economy. The study draws on the experience of the Republic of Ireland, a prototypical small open economy which is growing fast at the threshold of the third millennium.